Platform: Windows

The year was 1994, and the game was Super Metroid. Arguably the best of the 2D Metroid games, and one of my first video games. Oh, we had an NES, but that was my older brother's machine, and he guarded his Final Fantasy and Zelda saves jealously. But the Super Nintendo, that was mine, and it saw frequent use for years. The Metroid series along with games such as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night helped spawn the 'Metroidvania' genre of platform-adventure games of which Daniel Remar's Iji is a proud member.

In Iji you play as, well, Iji. Iji is a human who has been enhanced with nanotechnology after Earth is abruptly invaded by aliens. Her new nanotech field provides her with a kind of shield and also gives her the incredible weaponry that every action-platformer hero needs to survive. You start with a humble shotgun but as you progress you can collect seven more weapons, from the familiar machine gun and rocket launcher all the way up to odd weapons like the alien Shocksplinter. If that's not enough for you, there are eight more weapons that you can unlock by combining the original weapons. There's even a hint that there might be one more hidden weapon, if you can find it.

This impressive arsenal isn't just handed to you right away, of course, you have to earn it. As you progress through the game, you'll pick up blue nanofields that act as experience. Gain enough of them, and you'll go up a level. Stop by an upgrade station, and you can use the level to improve one of your seven abilities: Strength, Health, Attack, Assimilate, Crack, Tasen, and Komoto. There are also two upgrades each for jumping and armor that you collect during play.

With all of this going for her, you would expect Iji to be some military, tough-as-nails soldier type, right? Wrong. Iji is just an ordinary girl who happened to be in the right place at the right time... or is that the wrong place at the wrong time? In any case, she's not adjusted to killing aliens, which is something you'll have to cure her of.

Or not. One of the game's strengths is its story, told via dialogue with important enemies and through terminals scattered around the levels. And this is one of those games where how you play affects what happens in the story. If, like me, you go through the game guns-a-blazing, you can expect to find yourself regarded as a callous, cold-blooded killer. So maybe you'd prefer to let Iji remain a pacifist and fight only the bosses. It's up to you.

Analysis: Wow. This game is made of pure awesome. It spent four years in development, and every minute shows. The combat is a blast, in more ways than one, and it's surprisingly fun to just sit back at times and watch the two types of enemies exterminate each other. The story is amazingly deep and will easily suck you in if you give it a chance. Towards the end, I actually felt bad for having killed as many enemies as I did!

At times, the art and music may seem simplistic, but you will quickly realize that this is an intentional style. Iji knows that it owes a lot to the games that came before, and this surface look and feel is a clear homage to them, with any suspicions of inadequacy thoroughly crushed by the sheer amount of detail that went into the game. Light fixtures will break when you jump into them, for crying out loud!

Length is often a sticking point with games, but Iji's four difficulty levels, variable story, and hidden extras are plenty to keep you playing for a while, even after you beat it the first time. And that first play-through will be tense. The game tells me it only took 3.5 hours, but I had to spread it out over three days, and it felt a whole lot longer than that. I'm dumbfounded as to how you could finish it in just half an hour, but the records page says that's the developer's best time is 29 minutes, 33 seconds.

In fact, I only have a couple minor problems with this game. One is that when you stop to read a logbook, nothing else stops, but you can't move. This can make it annoying to try and follow the story while skimming through text hoping that nobody attacks you. The other was a bonus minigame that I could only get out of by randomly hitting keys until something got me out.

Do either of those seriously impact my opinion of the game? Not in the slightest. Iji is fantastic. I mentioned Super Metroid for a reason: for my money, Iji is even better. You may or may not agree, but Iji doesn't cost a cent, so what are you waiting for?

(Note: Linux users, be advised that while you can play Iji under Wine, if you've got Windows sitting around, use it! Wine handles the sound effects just fine, but you lose the music, and it is worth a little extra effort.)

Iji is not a Metroidvania. Iji's individual levels bear some resemblance to the structure of a Metroidvania, but at the broadest level, it's a linear level-based game and it does not try to hide this fact.

It's a wonderful game, mind you. Just not at all a Metroidvania. I'm not sure why the reviewer compares it to Super Metroid, given how little the games have in common.

I've been playing this game for weeks and it's great. I just successfully completed my first game of Turret Soccer. If it resembles any game in my mind (creation software notwithstanding), it's Cave Story -- and I wouldn't call the game linear so much as parallel, considering that there are two completely different gameplay paths based on your level of violence.

I really liked this game. It slightly reminded me of metroid, starting out with almost nothing, but it lost the resemblence after that. The upgrades are easy to get, but unfortunately, there is a level cap on the stages so you cant get completely upgraded by level 2 or 3.

The part I hated was that there weren't very many save points that I saw and I would have been nice to not have to start at the begining of the level each time I died. And I died alot trying to take out some of the elite guards even though all I upgraded was my health once, my strength 3 times, and my cracking 5 or 6 times :P

Overall: 3/5 its a great game, but needs more save points (and the obvious pixelation wasn't great either).

All you actually need to do is get to the armory room and use your system wipe power (hold [down] and press [c,c,c,c,z] and you get all of your points back and can spend them however you want). Then all you have to do is put all of your points in Health and Attack, and three in crack. Upgrade your [5/Q] weapon to have the reflector and you'll be set.

then...

Dodge every attack untill he does a strong charged attack and reflect it back to hit him. You should be fine on health seing as no attack of his does more than 3 health bars at a time, but still be careful. Everytime he flies off, healths will appear where he stood, so grab them if you need them. If you put enough into attack, the reflections should be pretty strong and you'll win easily.

It's kinda funny because...

The only two weapons you need to win are the two basic ones from each class of weapons, and you only need to combine them once. It is actually a bad idea to use something like nuke or the giant yellow ray (forgot the name) to kill him because you end up getting hit too often by attacks that you die quickly.

Ninjaz: Regarding your earlier post, upgrade health more if you don't want to die. It may not be as glamorous as the other stats, but it'll help a lot.

Personally, I could see the lack of in-level saves as a problem if the game were harder, but I found it rather easy and rarely died even on harder difficulties. More saves would just have made the game trivial to beat.

As for the 17th weapon...

It's hidden in one of the later sectors, #9 if I recall correctly. It's with one of the hidden posters, so it shouldn't be hard to find.

I've heard that the final boss says something different if you strike the final blow with this weapon, but I've yet to try it myself.

Hehehe! I'm happy that we finally got a review for this excellent game. And while this may be different from 2D Metroid... well, there isn't much else to compare Iji to, maybe except Cave Story.

Oh yeah, you could pretty much ignore quite a few of the logbooks if you're doing Pacifist. You wouldn't have the time to even read them (pretty much, the enemy will get you before you can even read a sentence)... luckly the important ones aren't laced with enemies...

Do get ready to be thrown around and pounded like a ragdoll by every possible weapon...

This Game Is Awesome.
Just finished the violent ending. Is it only two endings or is there a gradiant? How about only killing one of the alien races and not the other?
Only thing I wish where different would be grenades. there where many times I wanted to lob a grenade down a shaft to kill enemies.

The cutoff for the pacifist plotline is to kill less than something like five enemies per level -- the fewer, the better. You still have to kill some bosses no matter what.

My strategy for doing this was:

Upgrade Health as much as possible, then Assimilate (it increases how much health you take in from first aid kits), then Strength (if you have high Strength you can kick enemies and stagger them without killing them, although this is not that useful).

Also,

Jump a lot. If you've finished once with an aggressive character, use the map to take yourself straight through the level, no exploring, etc. Let Komato and Tasen kill each other whenever possible.

It's not /too/ hard -- just a different set of skills than the shooting style.

FunnyMan, first of all, the game clock is not accurate. I timed a level with my cellphone, which took 38 mins, where the game said 23 mins. Second of all, the game only displays the time taken for going through the game, not the total time played, so if you die the game clock resets to what it was at the beginning of that level.

Mystify, I've been thinking the same thing.

I figure there could possibly be endings where, as you say, you exterminate one entire race. And possibly also one where you start out by shooting Tarren, and around the time you find out about the other race being up to no good, you only shoot them.

ThemePark: The game clock only runs during gameplay, not menus and dialogue such. It's accurate - it just doesn't time the same thing as your cell phone. There's an option to make it visible, so you can see when it's running and when it's not.

Regarding the variableness of the endings (major spoilers, as I've already played through several times):

There's nothing you can do to change the main events of the plotline, including the ending. Some may be disappointed at this, but I think it worked well: it would have been rather forced and heavy-handed if playing pacifistically gave you the "good" ending while playing normally gave you the "bad" ending. The multitude of play styles are one of the game's strengths; giving the player a major reward for following one particular play style would lessen this strength.

However, there are four or five characters whose fates depend upon your actions. Playing pacifistically can help you save some of them.

upgrade your strength to 4 and hp 1 just to survive what you have to do. On the top level on the right close to the center, there is a pad to which you teleport to, not from. To the right of it is a blue soldier with a rocket launcher, seperated by a difference of 1 height. Kick him off that height, lead him to there, and make him fire a rocket, the wall will get destroyed, theres a teleporter to sector z, but you have to have all 10 posters, and I only have 1.

[Edit: Spoiler tags added. -Pam]

Tahsis, Please use spoiler tags so that people who don't want to see the solution don't have to. Thanks. -Pam]

Sorry Alice. I mislead the information of how to this, and I checked, and it does count defeating Tor as a kill, so you kill Tor and Asha which equals 2, the least number of kills physically possible. Sorry for previous mistakes. Can someone please tell me whats in sector Z as I have no idea.

Tahsis, you say yourself that you haven't been through the secret teleporter you've found, so obviously you haven't actually done what you claim is possible. You're just making up stuff and assuming you're correct.

You're not.

Now stop tossing around spoilers and misinformation with no care for who might read them.

Alice, I played through a sector closing dialogue as fast as possible, and never leaving the game until I was through the sector. Furthermore dialogue and the menu would not explain 15 minutes of difference, so the clock is indeed inaccurate, and my game seemed to run at normal speed.

Furthermore Tahsis is absolutely right. I tried it out and everything is done as (s)he says. You're told about the 10 posters when you try to enter the portal.

It is strange to hear that you had such a time difference. All I can say is that the clock is perfectly accurate on my computer (and yes, I have tested this).

*sigh* I'm not denying that the secret teleporter that Tahsis mentioned does exist. (the posts on it seem to have disappeared?) What I'm saying is that it does not go where Tahsis said it did - and if it did go there, you'd be able to beat the game with zero kills.

Seeing as how neither of you have actually gone through the teleporter, I'm not sure why you're so set on telling me that I'm wrong about what happens when you go through it. I have been through there, as well as practically everywhere else in this game, so I should think that I have a pretty good idea where it leads. Try it yourself if you refuse to believe me!

Wow. This game IS made out of pure awesomeness. I've been meaning to make a game for a long time now, and this just... it's exactly what I wanted to make. I give it a 5/5, which is a rating I reserve only for games like this and Cave Story. Here I was thinking that Game Maker would limit what you could do with a game - I now see that it's not about the engine - it's about the SOUL you put into a game.

That being said - the final battle is awesome. Simply epic. Especially when he does this:

Is a freaky, very low-res level that feels kind of like Iji is trapped inside a series of 80s video games. You have just one health, your shotgun, and there are few save points -- I haven't finished it yet.

You get there by:

Collecting all ten posters, one on each level, then starting the game and using the teleporter through the door to the left of the starting point. You don't have to collect all the posters in one game -- you can use the 'single level' playing feature that you get when you beat the game on Normal.

Anyway, this is one of the few games I felt compelled to play all the way through, multiple times (Transcendence is another) -- very rich, lots of texture.

A great game. It reminds me of "another world" played aeons ago into amiga. Ah when I was young. Fasinating story (maybe a little too much text around the levels), funny and simple gameplay, nothing more to ask. Ok, I was lying. I really wish to shoot and kick in mid air. Only this. Hurrah for Iji!

"Tech All Damage" just makes it so that when you get hit for an HP, it's like if you managed to tech the attack.

For those that don't know,

Teching is when you use the "use button" (C) right before you get hit, which makes it so you only get knocked back slightly, but retain the invinciblity. That way you can get hit and not waste time on the ground you would be able to use killing innocent aliens. It does nothing about sheilding.

Oh, and Adacus, if you get to the bottom, there's an extra point. Just so you know it's not a waste to go into that dark, abysmal place, then

Have to fight a bunch of assassins who lock you in and try to kill you

Or run to each locked door and hope that you can hack it before the assassins blast you with a dual shot laser

In the gameplay aspect, you can't shoot while jumping or ducking; normally, this would be a problem, but since ducking is "safer" and nothing comes swooping at you from above, there isn't so much of a problem. Though there are areas to which you can't return in most of the levels, that also encourages multiple playthroughs. This game looks to have been thought out so as to prevent any possible source of player frustration... Except when you miss a critical jump and can't get to that special area you wanted to on the first time. Oh well, that happens to everyone.

Hey Adacus, you're right, Cave Story did put some doubt in my mind... I can't decide which one is better. So I guess I'll just compare them in some sort of contest. (I've got nothing better to do, anyway...) MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Story
Well, there's not much to say here. I liked Iji's story better than Cave Story's. They were both pretty good, but I've already made up my mind:

"Story" Category winner: Iji

Paths
I've gone through the Pacifist and Berseker paths in Iji, as well as the two Cave Story paths (altough I'm now stuck at the very end of the Hard path, can't get past the Hell sector...). In Iji, the path chosen doesn't affect too much, while doing the Hard path in Cave Story brings up new weapons, new areas and a much richer story. Therefor:

"Path" Category winner: Cave Story

Lenght
Cave Story was very satisfying to play, but a bit too long, even with its paths and secrets to find (unless you are a completionist, like me!). While Cave Story requires a considerable amount of time to play, Iji is a lot more casual, while being just as entertaining. Also worth a mention is Iji's "Sector Select" mode, which allows you to replay any sector, so you don't have to play the entire game again just to find something you missed. I don't really know which game wins this category, as one of them is short, for casual players, and the other is long, for a deeper gaming experience...

"Lenght" Category winner: DRAW

Unlockables

My favorite feature in any game, the unlockables are present in both games. Cave Story has many weapons to get as the game goes, while Iji has LOTS of weapons to use. Iji has seven Stats to upgrade as you level up, while Cave Story has Health Capsules to increase your life, and an interesting upgrading system for the weapons. In Cave Story there are also a few Sidequests to do, but they don't stray too far from the main game. Now, if I were to talk about Iji's posters, ribbons, Logbooks, modes and extras (not to mention Sector Z) I'd probably still be writing by tomorrow. So I'll just say:

"Unlockables" Category winner: Iji

After closely watching the contestants, the judges have decided: getting the best by the difference of one single point, the winner is.... *drums roll*

We're having some problems on our computers, please stand by.

Shouldn't take too long...

Okay, that should do it. So, where was I? Oh yeah, I was about to announce the winner. *clears throat* And the winner is... *drums roll again*

Iji!!!

So, I guess Iji truly is the best platformer. But if you haven't played Cave Story yet, read my words: IT IS A MUST.
Thank you for reading this to the end (no cookie for you if you just jumped to the last lines LOL), and I promise I'll try not to do something this long again. At least this week.

So, I finally beat the Extreme difficulty, and noticed I still had to beat Ultimortal. After all, how much harder could it be?

BIG SPOILER AHEAD! (in both meanings, LOL)

I soon realized how easy Extreme was. Sure, it has a lower Nano Level limit and tougher bosses, but that's nothing compared to what Ultimortal holds up its sleeves. Not only it has Extreme's low Nano Level limit and tough bosses, it also locks EVERY upgrade station, except for Health. But there's more! All of those green and red Nanofields (which recover shield and health) are gone. That's right, no health recovery in Ultimortal. And if you think it's already hard enough, wait until I tell you about the time limit in each level that, if exceeded, makes your Nanoshield self-combust and BLOW UP IN A GIANT BALL OF FIRE!!! *ahem* Sorry about that.

After a few hours struggling, I managed to beat Ultimortal. Besides sore fingers, I also got the Turbo Mode, but I don't see in which ways it affects gameplay. Does anybody know what it does?

You beat Tor by constantly using the resonance REFLECTOR. At least I did. I only got 3 posters though.

It's so sad though....

Dan dies like after the 7th-8th level and Iji is so traumatized by it that she pretends to talk to him in her mind for the rest of the game...........whoa. She's like the LAST PERSON left on earth. Unbelievably sad.

Save that trapmine you get, and use it at the very end of the level Dan dies in. When the trooper teleports in behind you, he gets blown away, and you mainain your aim; Asha is scared away, and Dan lives. :)

Still trying to finish sector X without killing Asha, though, I need more nano to upgrade my Tasen, Komato and crack levels to make that weapon that fires through walls >_>

Sorry to burst your spoilery bubble, but the details of all the different difficulty levels are in the manual.txt file in the Iji folder.

Anyway: This game is absolutely incredible. It has unlockables, it has minigames, it has upgrades, it has stat management, it has hidden techniques, it has a great story, it has multiple plotlines, and the list goes on. And on and on and on and on. And it's awesome.

Someone should put in an explanation on how to get all the posters. I've only got two, myself, and can describe how to get the first.

At the very beginning, there's a Shield Door you need a strength of 2 to bust down. All you need to do is upgrade ST at the first station you can, then head back to the left and kick it down.

For the second, I can't be as helpful. After you get the jump upgrade, don't continue left; go back to the right. The place with the poster is on the right side of the map; after a long fall, you'll land on a platform with a blue Tasen, a ledge to the left and a bomb block to the right. Kick the blue Tasen off to the left, and hopefully he'll either shoot enough or fire a rocket to break the block. Then, just jump at the new hallway, get the poster, and shoot at seagulls.

Shotgun: Good damage in a single shot. You need to be close to get the best damage.

Combine with Machine Gun to get Buster Gun: a rapid-fire shotgun that is great for killing everything (two shots will break enemy armor, stopping whatever they were doing). However, it takes lots of ammo.

Machine Gun: Rapid fire, good range and damage, but I don't like it because you have to stand in the line of fire for a long time to kill someone.

Rocket Launcher: Your first explosive weapon, and what a delight! Knock enemies flying, but enemies can duck or even use the Resonance Reflector to send them back.

Combine with Shotgun for Spread Rockets: Three rockets for killing enemies extra quickly. Also, shooting at the floor or ceiling is useful.

MPFB Devastator: Three projectiles that will kill almost anything, but the recoil knocks you over. Good for rocket jumping, too. Needless to say, don't get hit by it.

Combine with Rockets for NUKE! Uses three MPFB ammo, but wipes the screen and sends you flying. It's OK to laugh maniacally. Also useful for smashing windows that you can't reach with any other guns.

Resonance Detonator: Use this when a kick won't reach. It takes too long to reload, though.

Combine with Shotgun for Resonance Reflector: Reflect projectiles. Powerful and hilarious, but it takes a long time to reload, and reflected shots can be re-reflected at you.

Pulse rifle: Very rapid fire. A good alternative to your shotgun, but you have to stand there for a while to kill.

Combine with Resonance Det. for Hyper Pulse. Has a wider spread, and if an enemy is damaged enough it will kick them. Usually it's easier to run up and kick them, but it can also break windows and shield doors from a distance. Needed for some secrets.

Shocksplinter: Shoots a ball of energy that detonates into a series of smaller blasts. Use it like the rocket launcher, but from a VERY long distance. The splash damage is random and can hit at a surprising range.

Upgrade with (Rockets? MPFB? I forget) for Plasma Gun. Shoots a beam of energy that creates a shocksplinter blast where it hits. Situationally useful.

I haven't found the last Komato gun, and I'm not sure I have the nano for it. If anyone can add it, I'll be thankful.

Gaps with low ceilings can't be crossed by normal jumping. Jump down and jump back up, but if you can't do that, you might need to Rocket Jump. Lure an enemy into shooting a rocket at you and get blown across the gap. It hurts, though. Finally, you could ride a Tasen Shredder across the gap with a running start, and jump off if it looks like you'll fall short.

Important stuff: I unlocked all the posters in single sector mode. All the weapons you need are in the levels of the posters. I'll tell you the stats and weapons you need but you're responsible for finding them.

It will be quite a bit easier if you beat the game before attempting to get the posters, you unlock maps which show the location of each poster.

After it says you've unlocked the poster, you can quit to main menu, die or whatever and it will stay unlocked.

1.

Head right until you see some nano on a table, get it and keep going right until you come to the strength cyber station. Upgrade your strength to 2 then head left until you get to where you started. Destroy the level 2 shield door with your kick and walk left until you get poster number 1.

2.

Play through the map normally, picking up a machine gun along the way. (requires level 3 Tasen) Near the end, after you fall down a long shaft onto a platform with a crate and a Tasen soldier, be sure to hop off to the left. Leave the crates down there intact as you need them to get back up. Fire your machine gun at the explosives on the far right wall until it explodes. Hop back up to the platform with the Tasen soldier then drop down to the passage on the right side and get poster #2.

3.

Play through the level, make sure you get a missle launcher. (requires Tasen level 6) Also get your crack to level 5. Combine the shotgun and missle launcher at a Nanoweapon station to make Spread Rockets.

Once you get to the top of the right tower, you'll notice some glass on the left. Equip your spread rockets and fire them from the platform on the right side to break the glass. Next, get 4 strength and kick the Tasen soldier off the plastform he's on to the left. (He can only take 2 kicks before he dies, you have to do this carefully)

Make sure you have enough health to survive a rocket hit. Lure him to the left side of the platform he's on now. The goal here is to jump INTO his rocket to launch yourself up to where the glass was. I found that standing on the leftmost Tasen text log and works well. After you manage to get up there, just walk left and #3 is right in front of you.

4.

This one is somewhat difficult to time, you only get 2 chances per playthrough too. Get a missle launcher, which requires Tasen level 6. Be sure to bring a Tasen Shredder to the bottom of the level with you. (The exit will be just to your right when you're in the right place)

Get on the shredder you brought and use the little ramp to give yourself enough height to jump off the shredder and up into the vent above you. There will be two Tasen Soldiers and two Tasen Shredders at the top.

Get in a shredder and drive it off to the left, launch a rocket in midair to break the wall to the left. You can also use spread rockets (combine a shotgun and missle launcher at a nanoweapon station, requires crack 5) from the ground to break the wall.

After you've opened the passage in the wall, drive your shredder off the platform you're on and jump off it in midair so you enter the passage. Poster #4 is just yonder.

5.

Play through until you get the jump upgrade. Pick up a missle launcher and MPFB Devastator along the way. (Tasen level 10) Get level 9 crack and combine the missle launcher and MPFB Devastator to make the Nuke.

Backtrack until you find yourself outside but before you make it back to the Komato ship. Head right, using your jump upgrade to jump on top of one of the entances to the base. Head right until there's a destroyable wall above you. Equip the nuke and destroy it. Keep heading up until you get poster #5.

6.

On this level it may be a good idea to get 10 health to start then reset it later, just to make sure that you don't die and have to go through the level again.

At the start, after you blow up the barrel and fall down the little shaft, head up and left until you find a Tasen Shredder, hop on it and go right, through the shield door. When the shredder is about to hit the right wall, jump off. Climb up the passage. When you find a terminal, use it to open a door above you. If you missed the jump from the shredder you can go around and crack a level 10 security door to gain access to the terminal.

Next get a Cyclic Fusion Ignition System, requires Komato 10. Make your way through the door you opened at the terminal. Here, you will need to have 10 Komato, 10 crack, and 10 Tasen. Hold crouch and press c, c, c, c, z if you need to reset your points. Get the MPFB Devastator and Cyclic Fusion Ignition System in your inventory.

Combine them at the nanoweapon station to make a Vilocithor V2-10, this weapon fires through walls. Use it to destroy the uppermost set of crates on the other side of the wall to the left. Walk around and jump up where the crates were blocking you, then use the other crates to get up to poster #6.

Use a nanoweapon station to combine the MPFB Devastor and missle launcher to make a nuke. Combine the Resonance Detonator and Pulse Cannon to make the Hyper Pulse. (Requires crack level 9)

Make your way through the Komato Phantom Reaver until you use the terminal that opens the floor hatch. Jump up to the area just above you, it has a part with the ceiling lower than the rest. Use the Hyper pulse on the shield door. Next, move to the edge of the platform you're on and face away from where the shield door was. Use the nuke to launch yourself backwards accross the gap. Collect poster #7.

8.

Make your away along until you fall through the floor, remember the room to your right.

When you get back to the room you saw when you fell, jump up to the platform above it and get Tasen 10 if you don't have it already then climb up to the platform with the Komato Trooper. Pick up the MPFB Devastator. Lure the trooper to the left side of the platform, shoot him at close range with the MPFB Devastator so you damage yourself and end up on the platform to the right. You can also try to jump into his Pulse Cannon shots, but if you failed the first method, he probably died, oops. Poster 8 obtained.

9.

Get 10 health and 10 Tasen and a MPFB Devastator.

Progress through the stage until you get to the part with the assassin and the platforms leading upward that are quite far apart. Fire the MPFB into the wall to launch yourself with the explosion. Hope your health/MPFB ammo holds out until you make it to the top. When you get there, you get poster 9 and a rather nice weapons cache.

Combine the Machine gun and Shocksplinter to make the splintergun. Combine the missle launcher and MPFB Devastator to make the nuke. Requires crack 10.

Backtrack until you get to the start of the level then take the elevator up. Walk right until you come to a hole in the floor with a lowered roof. Get to the edge of the hole, face away from it, and use the nuke.

Climb the shaft. When you reach the top, equip the splintergun and move to the far left, then turn and fire in the direction of the glass until you happen to hit it. Use the boxes to climb up to the next platform then use the nuke to destoyed the floor the Tasen Shredders are resting on. Ride the shredder through the level 15 shield door to your left. Iji says it best herself.

Sector Z

To access this sector you need to have all the posters. Go to sector 1. Get 4 strength, but make sure that a Tasen Soldier in the upper left hand corner does not get killed. Go to that soldier and lure him to the left hand side of the platform he's on then kick him off, to the left. Lure him to the left once again and get him to use his rocket launcher on the crumbling wall to the left. Enjoy Sector Z.

If you are using the shotgun, or any gun other than the reflector on the final boss, you're doing it wrong. Beating the ultimortal level requires that you know each level well, as you're only given a certain amount of time before you explode, and since you can only upgrade your health that you are good at avoiding attacks. The hardest part for me was killing that blasted assassin and still making it out of level X in time.
Also, it is possible to beat the game with only 2 kills,

the first is level 2. I want to say when you battle your first boss, basic elite soldier with turret guns coming out of the floor, and the second is Iosa the Invincible. Both these deaths are forced on you. As long as you don't kill a single other alien, you're fine. The final boss Tor doesn't count as a kill as he asks for mercy and dies on his own. AND, I almost forgot to mention, in order to avoid having to kill the assassin you MUST have Tasen, Komato, AND Crack all at level 10, you need weapons #4 and #8, and you combine them in order to build the gun that shoots through walls. With this gun you can blast the energy core on the roof (where the acid rain is) without having to get the blast doors open.

Also, the Deep Sector and the "???" level are lots of fun.

If you're playing through as the pacifist, when you get to the part right before the battle with Iosa (where screams are heard and then silence) on the bottom floor there is a teleporter that will take you to this sector. You'll find a log from whoever it is that makes a truce with you in the 2nd level about running away with a man and his girlfriend. And as stated before you will get an extra bonus stat. What's great is on the way out, you have to hack through about 5 doors with somewhere between 7-10 of those mock assassins all shooting at you. I had full health level 10 going in and made it out with only about 4-5 bars of health left!

And from much earlier in the post, there is no secret warp to the final battle as mentioned before.

the warp in sector one is to "sector Z" which I have yet to beat. Also there is no 'hidden rocket launcher', you have to use a blue guy and have strength of 4 to kick him off a ledge and then lure him over so he can use a rocket and blow open the wall.

This is one of the greatest 2-D platformers I've played in a LONG while. My heart hasn't been pumping as fast as it was trying to beat Tor on Ultimoral since the days of Contra on the 8-bit NES system. Great game!!

What makes the final boss trigger his instant death attack, where he stomps the ground and then blasts the entire screen? One time I tried to kill him with just my heavy weapons, and after a few tries he eventually just stomped the ground and Phantom Hammered me. The other time I kept using the reflector, and he died without ever using it. What triggers it?

Do you notice the charged shots after a period of time? Those balls of energy? If you missed them three times, he does that beam. It is possible to dodge that attack, I've done it. All you have to do is wait until the charging sound is almost done, then jump up a little. So three strikes and you're out 99.99% of the time

Ah, thanks JIGuest. Also, I think you can squeeze a few more strikes out if you're willing to take a risk:

The balls of energy from his charged shots will swirl around Tor after he fires them. If you stand right next to Tor, the swirling balls will hit you as they fly around. Use the resonance reflector to send them into him, then run away before he counterattacks. I think this gets you an extra chance.

This game is easy to play over and over again, especially if one is trying to unlock all of its secrets and bonuses. However, there are certain tasks that seem incredibly difficult to achieve. Ultimortal appears to be nearly impossible to get through on level X with that final assassin. Is it just me, or do those attacks come extra fast? Not even two battles (after getting killed) have proved sufficient to pass that area.

There are a few guides available for the posters and how to get to them, but where can you find all of Mia's ribbons? The story revealed by finding them has been rather interesting thus far, and it would be nice to find the rest of them (and apparently explore new places as well).

Is there a point to Sector Z besides its being a "super secret" place? It was fun jumping through "time and space," entering into games from the dawn of video consoles. However, I was expecting more than someone's initials under the goal area, a freaky mirror, and a final log book. Do you get anything by traveling through Sector Z on your way to beat the game?

How do you beat a boss (presumably General Tor) in only one shot? Do you have to use the banana gun on him? If not, is there any special reason to get the banana gun?

Make sure you have version 1.3, and don't break the truce. Everything else will fall right into place.

Also, I think I might be the first person to find the Null Driver.

In Sector Z, there's a teleporter in the Hero zone that leads to a room with a bunch of barriers. They'll kill you if you touch them. However, if you reboot your Nanofield, you can use the temporary invulnerability to run past a couple of them. You'll need to reboot at least twice, but you'll get to the Null Driver. It's perhaps the strangest thing anyone could put in their game. I won't spoil what it does, though.

Tahsis, you're wrong. You can finish the game with ZERO KILLS. You're just not trying hard enough.

First of all, aside from the second round against Asha, none of the bosses count as kills if you're playing pacifist.

The Tasen elite doesn't count since you really didn't kill him, the next boss was a robot and thus not alive in the first place, Asha doesn't die the first time but rather escapes, Ioma wasn't killed by you rather by the assassin, and Tor committed suicide.

Now, how to not kill Asha:

Don't fight him at all. You need to get both 10 in Komato and Tasen weaponry, and a very high crack (I think it might be 9, not sure.) You also need both weapons 4 and 8. Combine them together, which will give you a gun that shoots through walls. Then all you need to do is use it to blast the reactor without actually opening the blast doors.

Actually, it's quite impossible to fight Tor without the Resonance Reflector; if you reboot in the area before him, you'll keep it (despite losing all other cracked weapons), and if you don't have it when you enter said area, it will actually be sitting there on the ground in front of the door, and you'll be forced to collect it.

You can actually kill lots of enemies in pacifist mode- you just have to do it indirectly. Have high Health and Assimilate, then take an enemy's explosive round in the face while standing next to the enemy you want to kill.

That's right. You need all eight basic nanoweapons, the MPFB Devastator (Rank 10 Tasen) and Suppression (Health special).
Fight General Tor with this, and land the final hit with it. I want to.

Retribution:

All sectors
Requires health 5 (or above),
Tasen 10,
Komato 10.

My personal favourite, press the fire button when you're standing up and Iji will do a screen-clearing super-blast that completely decimates everyone onscreen. You need all eight basic nanoweapons and less than five hitpoints of health left.

So I have a bit of a problem. When I close the game and reopen it, I lose all of my saves and have to start the entire game over again. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening? It seems to be a trend among games I download, if that's of any help.

Innocent ranking is only for getting 2 kills, not less than 10. To progress through the game you have to kill two enemies you couldn't run away from, but if you kill at least one that you could've avoided, you're not innocent.

wllflwr: In case you don't know, the requirements in order to access sector Z are:

You need to have found all 10 posters; there is one in each sector. Once you find them, even if you don't save, they'll be permanently saved so you can even find them one by one in the single sector playthrough.

Now, to get the the entrance of sector Z, as well as find the super charge for sector 1:

All you need for stats is 4 strength, so at the start of the game only focus on upgrading strength in order to get it the fastest. Now, 4 strength allows you to kick the blue Tasen which is key. Go up to the place left of where the first ribbon is found, and you'll find a single blue tasen. Without attacking him, lure him to the far left edge (as far as he'll go) and then kick him onto the lower edge. Now lure him to the even farther edge and make him fire a rocket at the far left wall where the elevator shaft is. When the rocket hits the wall, it'll crumble, allowing you to go inside it and come to the super charge and a portal. The portal will only let you in if you have the certain requirements.

Bonus: In sector Z, you'll eventually come across a portal which is most likely blocked off. Here is how to get to it:

You must get everything possibly unlockable, except for beating Daniel Remar's fastest times for the different difficulties. This includes all posters, all ribbons, and every other little secret jam-packed into Iji. If you do manage this, the portal will no longer be blocked out. See the next spoiler in order to find out how to get through what you see once you go through that portal.

Note: Read the previous spoiler to know what this next spoiler has in it.

Once you go through the portal, it seems you can't go any farther; there is a series of flashing laser beams blocking your path with skull icons above them labeling them to be deadly. If you touch them you'll instantly be killed. For those who don't know how to nano reboot, see the next spoiler, but that is basically what you do. You go right next to the lasers, do the nano rebooting technique, and when you're flashing you'll be invincible which allows you go to through the lasers. Take it slowly and do only one laser per nano reboot at a time. Do not worry about dying from the nano reboot since you only have one health point; you won't be damaged. At the end of the tunnel of lasers, there will be a gun and a logbook. I won't tell you what this gun does, I'll let you find that out for yourself.

For those who want to know the combination for the nano reboot technique:

Crouch down and then press the C button four times in a row and then the Z button once. Make sure not to take too long between each button press, but do not rush or it won't work.

I hope this helped anyone and if you wish to correct me on anything I have said please do not hesitate. It's been a bit of a while since I last saw DeceasedCrab via YouTube playthrough Iji so I may have possibly forgotten a few things.

Best game ever!! I just ended my first playthough and, again, BEST GAME EVER!! Though I feel empty, I wish I could scoop all my experiences of it out so it could feel fresh once more. By the way, has anyone noticed the hidden link at the end of the game's page? It's at the full stop, and leads to

A background story for what happens before the Origin invasion took place.

please provide link for...(By the way, has anyone noticed the hidden link at the end of the game's page? It's at the full stop, and leads to
A background story for what happens before the Origin invasion took place.
Iji just goes on and on with its secrets...)...link please.

Just in case anyone is still hanging around the comments here, I don't know if it was like this in the previous versions of the game, but in regards to the minimum number of kills:

It's zero, you don't have to completely kill any of the bosses. The first one will be killed for you if you don't break the truce, Iosa the Invincible will be finished by a rebel assassin if you grab the supercharge in deep sector and have zero kills up to that point. You can avoid fighting Asha the second time by destroying the reactor core within its armor with the velocithor. And defeating Tor doesn't count as a kill.

I love this game, It's an amazing game both game play and story wise. The amount of secrets in this game is amazing, this game has more secrets and easter eggs than most console games I've played! And the Pacifist and Berserker mechanic and how that affects the logbooks character reactions, and ending. I still have to get Immortal Damage ranking to Null Driver.

I Beat Sector Z! it has a log book at the end that says that your the best IJI player ever and that he says its worth it making IJI to have a player like me =D plus i beat sector Z on my first time with FULL ARMOR...NO DAMAGE DUDE =D

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